Down the Hall
by Allie 818 Cat
Summary: Serena Tuskino, 21 years old, has just moved into her new penthouse apartment. Excited to be on her own and ready to start her life. She just has one tinsy, tiny problem. The tormenting jerk in her life, Darien Shields, lives in the apartment just down the hall from her!
1. Chapter 1

Down the Hall

Chapter 1

Neighbors

* * *

Serena Tuskino plopped down on her brand new, super squishy and light pink couch in her brand new apartment.

Twenty-one years old, and just having moved into her brand spankin' new, _penthouse_ apartment, oh God was she excited. So she had one neighbor whom she had to share the floor with, but still it was her very own apartment.

The blonde sighed, watching her best friend of the male gender, Andrew, bring in the last of her boxes.

"Well, that's the last of them. You want me to help you unpack?" he asked as he placed the heavy box on her kitchen counter. "That's heavy. What do you even have in there?"

Serena's face blushed bright red and she looked down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs. "Uh…"

He pulled open the flaps to the box. "Seriously?" he pulled out one of the various stuffed bunny rabbits that were crammed into the box.

"What?" the blue eyed blonde asked innocently. "It's my bunny collection."

"I know you like bunnies, but really isn't this overkill?"

"Nope…"

Andrew rolled his eyes. "So yes or no, do you want me to help you finish unpacking?"

Serena waved her hand in a dismissive way. "Nah, you've been a huge help, I'll get it done later."

The sandy blonde shrugged. "Well, I gotta go. I am meeting a friend who lives here."

"Bye, Drew." She called as he exited the door.

Serena smiled; it felt so great to be on her own. No more over protective daddy threating boys with his shotgun, even if they had just come over to work on a school project. Or her mother fawning over all of them, question Serena when she would get a boyfriend. Parents could be so annoying.

She looked around her new place. It was one of the best one's she had found. Not too small, not too big.

Best part was that she only had one neighbor, only one person she had to deal with making noise on the floor. And of course there would be only one person who could complain about her making too much noise.

The small girl fell back down on the cushy sofa, exhausted from moving boxes all day. Who knew how much work it would have been?

She looked around at the bare, white walls.

"Those are too boring." She said to herself, sitting up. "Better start to get to work anyways. These boxes aren't gonna unpack themselves."

Serena pulled open up her box labeled 'Photos' in pink sharpie. She ripped open the box and pulled out the first bubble wrapped picture. Moving the squishy plastic away from the picture she smiled at the dorky picture of all her friends making funny faces at the camera.

Serena pulled out a few more photos and unwrapped them.

She grimaced as she came across one of The Jerk, also known as Darien Shields. Her tormentor. The man who teased her and made fun of her every day.

Gosh how she hated him. Such a jerk.

Why did he have to pick on her, of all the _6,840,507,003 people in the world, did he have to pick her?_

_Why couldn't he pick on someone his own size?_

Litarally! The jerk did tower a full foot, maybe more, over her petite size of four foot, eleven inches, only one inch short, well tall, of being a midget, as he liked to point of so often.

"At least this place is Jerk free." She said to the air around her as she set to work arranging her new apartment.

* * *

Darien Shields paced back and forth in his living room. His best friend, Andrew, sitting on the couch, with his feet propped up on the coffee table before him.

"Stop pacing before you wear a rut in the carpet."

The black haired man turned and glared at Andrew.

"But what am I going to do!"

The blond rolled his hazel eyes. "It's a failed test. It's not the end of the world."

"Just a failed test! Just a failed test! Do you know how that could affect my grade!" he nearly shouted, coming close to ripping out his thick black locks. "I failed a test and it's all her fault!"

The sandy blonde raised an eyebrow at his hyperventilating friend. "Who's fault?"

"Meatball Head's!" he yelled.

"Okay…. And just how is this Serena's fault?" he questioned.

"She's just so annoying! I ran into her before school and couldn't get her out of my mind! That's why I failed! It's all her fault!" he whined, acting like a three year old throwing a tantrum over a toy. The jumping up and down and whiny voice included.

Meatball Head… the girl he tormented every day. Every day after school he would tease her relentlessly.

Sometimes about her grades, her tiny height, mostly about her hair, and every now and then, her eating habits, then about her meatball hairstyle again.

He looked at his friend for help.

"You know you just got a new neighbor. Maybe you should act like a decent human being and go say hi or something…"

Darien pondered this. Someone knew could help get his mind off of Meatball Head.

"You should really go say hi to her."

"It's a girl."

"Yeah. Do something nice for her. Act human, then maybe you'd have a friend."

"Like what?" he asked.

Andrew shrugged. "I donno. Make cookies or something. Girls like cookies, right? Or flowers, they also like flowers. Put them in a nice vase. Something to welcome her to her new home."

"Fine I'll do something. Does that make you happy?"

Yes. Maybe then someone will see that you can be a normal person."

"I am a normal person!"

"One with emotions." Andrew said bluntly.

"That's harsh."

"But it's the truth." the blond retorted.

* * *

One batch of cookies and an hour later had Darien down the hall knocking on his one and only neighbor's door.

"Coming!" a feminine voice from inside shouted. "Be there in a minute."

'Ugh! I've had Meatball Head in my mind for so long, all girls are starting to sound like her.' he thought as he balanced his plate of freshly baked cookies on his hand.

The door was soon opened by a short blonde girl. "Hey. My name's Darien, your new neighbor, just wanted to welcome you…" he trailed off as he recognized the girl in front of him.

"YOU!" she yelled, pointing a finger at him. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I was just gonna ask the same thing to you, Meatball Head!"

THUD!

The door was slammed in his face, Darien dropped the plate of cookies.

Great.

Just great.

This was exactly what he needed.

Meatball Head was his new neighbor.

* * *

So... what will happen next?

Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I love hearing from my readers!


	2. Chapter 2

Down the Hall

Chapter 2

Living Hell

* * *

Serena heard someone knocking on her door. Must be her new neighbor she thought. "Coming. Be there in a minute!" she shouted from the kitchen where she was unpacking her cookware.

Wiping her hands on her shirt she moved over to the entry hall. Slowly she opened the door, curious as to what her new neighbor was like.

"Hey. My name's Darien, your new neighbor, just wanted to welcome you…"

She couldn't believe who was standing in front of her. "YOU!" she cried pointing a shaking finger at him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I was just gonna ask the same thing to you, Meatball Head!"

THUD!

Serena slammed her door in The Jerk's face. The blonde leaned against the door.

Someone had to be playing a joke on her!

A joke that was totally not funny.

"I bet this is Drew's idea of a funny stunt. I'll show him." she ground out angrily. She stalked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed her pink cell phone.

The petite girl punched in her (ex) friend's number.

She listened to the phone ring only to get his voice mail. "Hey, you've reached Andrew. Sorry I can't get to the phone now. Please leave your message after the beep." she head a person say the word beep in the background. "Not that beep but this one." the phone let out a small beeping sound.

"ANDREW MOTOKI FURUHATA! You are so dead! How could you think that would be funny! You stupid jerk!" she yelled in to the pink phone. Serena hung up and tossed her phone down on the couch.

"I don't wanna share the floor with Jerk Face!" she cried into her pink bunny Pillow Pet (As seen on TV!).

She heard a knock on her door again. "Go away!" she shouted knowing it was the jerk again.

Darien knocked harder when he heard Serena shout at him to go away. "Come on Serena! Open the door." he cried, banging his fist against the door.

"GO AWAY! JERK!"

Darien ran a hand through his dark, thick hair. "Please." He set his plate of cookies by the door. "I guess I'll just leave these cookies I made for my neighbor right here."

He dejectedly walked back to his own apartment. Slamming the door shut he looked around for his evil friend. "Slimy git must of escaped when I went over there." He muttered to himself when he saw the sandy blonde was nowhere in sight.

"Oh boy, Meatball Head as my neighbor. Just what I needed in my last year of school. Now how am I supposed to study with her goofing off down the hall?"

He groaned and leaned back against his counter. Why on Earth did Meatball Head have to be his neighbor?

Why couldn't it have been some random person he didn't know?

… .. …

Serena danced around her room while unpacking the rest of her belongings.

Her newly unpacked speaker/stereo system/ alarm clock blasting an odd assortment of her favorite bubblegum pop songs and show tunes.

"_POPULAR! I know about popular._  
_and with an assist from me,_  
_to be who you'll be,_  
_instead of dreary who you were...uh, are._  
_there's nothing that can stop you,_  
_from becoming popular... lar..._

_la la, la la!  
we're gonna make you pop-u-lar!_

_when I see depressing creatures,  
with unprepossessing features,  
i remind them on their own behalf  
to - think - of  
celebrated heads of state,  
or specially great communicators!  
did they have brains or knowledge?  
don't make me laugh!_

_they were POPULAR!  
please, it's all about popular.  
it's not about aptitude,  
it's the way you're viewed,  
so it's very shrewd to be,  
very very popular like ME!_

_and though you protest,  
your disinterest,  
I know clandestinly,  
you're gonna' grin and bear it!  
you're new found popularity!  
ah!_

_la la, la la!_  
_you'll be popular!_  
_just not quite as popular as -_"

A loud knocking came from the door.

The blonde grabbed the remote for the speaker system and hit pause. "WHAT?" she yelled, tossing the black plastic rectangle down as she started to make her way to the door, knowing who was on the other side.

Serena threw open the door. "What do you want. I'm kinda busy unpacking at the moment."

"Keep the volume down, Meatball Head!" the black haired man said, leaning against her doorframe. "I can hear it all the way from down in my apartment."

"Why should _you_ be telling _me _what to do? I do believe this is _my _place and no one can tell me what a can and cannot do!" she argued back, glaring up into her 'arch nemesis's' eyes.

She would have looked imitating, but it didn't help that she was over a foot shorter than Darien and had to crane her head back to look him properly in the eye.

"Fine I'll leave. Just turn your music down. It's giving me a hell of a headache!" he then proceeded to slam _her_ door in _her _face.

Hell…

Serena's face broke out in a mischievous grin.

Yes. She knew what she was going to do.

From now on the Jerk's life was going to be a living hell…

.. … ..

Serena plopped down on her couch with her big bowl of popcorn.

Looking around the room she grabbed the remote from its place in the coffee table.

She hit the 'on' button, wanting to watch one of her favorite movies.

The screen stayed black.

Again and again she pounded the big red 'on' button.

Still, nothing happened.

Sighing she scooted off the couch and headed to the door. Flinging it open, she made her way down the hall to bang on Darien's door.

He opened it, a tired look on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Darien! Could you help me with something?" she asked brightly, a huge grin plastered on her face.

"What do you want?"

"My TV's being stupid. It won't turn on." She pouted, grabbing hold of his arm and literally dragging him back to her door.

Darien trudged after her, tiredly; he just had a long day and had a big paper due the next day. All he wanted to do was finish his paper and go to sleep. Not help Meatball Head with her TV problems.

He blinked as she stuck her television remote in his face. "See. No matter how many times I try hitting the on button, it doesn't turn on!" she punched the button over and over again to prove her point.

He grabbed the remote from her and tried himself.

Once again, nothing happened.

The tall man flipped over the gray plastic in his hands, examining it. "Did you try changing the batteries? They could have died." He said bluntly.

Serena snatched her remote back and ran to the kitchen where she pulled out a pack of batteries from the bottom drawer of the counter. Replacing the ones in the remote she tried to turn on her television once more.

The screen flickered to life with the touch of the button.

Darien rolled his eyes at his neighbor. 'What a dumb blonde.' He thought to himself as she settled herself on her couch.

… .. …

"Darien. *sob* Why did Rue have to die in the book?"

"Because there can only be one Victor, it was obvious she was going to die. Get over it. It's a book. They're not real people. Now go back to sleep, it's two in the morning, Meatball."

…

"Darien! The internet's broken!"

…

"Darien! There's a big, huge bug!"

…

"Darien! What does 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' mean?"

…

"Darien! I'm bored!"

…

"Darien!"

"What!"

"One of my light bulbs burned out!"

"Well why don't you fix it?"

"Because I can't reach it. I tried standing on a chair but that didn't work, I'm a delicate little thing, you know, and I didn't want to risk standing on the table, `cos I could fall. And you're a freakishly tall giant, so you fix it."

"If I fix it will you leave me alone?"

"Maybeee…."

"Fine I'll fix your stupid light bulb."


End file.
